Facing East Taiwanese Restaurant (Bellevue): Citrus Fruit Tea and Taiwanese Pork Burger

One of our last restaurants to try during our Seattle road trip was Facing East, which is a popular Taiwanese restaurant located in a small mini mall in Bellevue… and by “popular” I mean expect for a wait to get in here. We showed up around the dinner hour on a Saturday and waited about 45 minutes to get in.

The restaurant is actually fairly large but they squish you in like sardines (typical of many asian restaurants). I suppose we were even lucky to get a table in the back corner (although lighting back there wasn’t great).

One of the things that we really like about this place was their drinks. We ordered their Citrus Fruit Tea ($4.95) which was a fruity concoction of lemon, orange, strawberry, kiwi, and apple served in glass bottles. You can actually get drinks to-go in the same glass bottles and they give you plastic lids to keep everything in place.

The Taiwanese Pork Burger ($4.50) was quite good. Served on a steamed bao, the fatty pork was so tender and melted in your mouth. They also add pickled veggies and an asian bbq sauce that gives it a tangy zing.

The Tainan Shrimp Roll ($8.75) with wasabi and sweet dipping sauce had a nice crispy exterior and the wasabi dipping sauce wasn’t overly spicy.

Next up was the Sauteed Sliced Lamb with Taiwanese bbq sauce ($13.95). I’ve always been a fan of sauteed lamb and, while slightly spicy, this proved to be less intense than similar lamb cumin dishes that I’ve had at Szechuan places.

The Home Style Braised Egg Tofu with Mixed Veggies ($11.25) was a saucy dish with mushrooms and pork. This is the kind of dish that goes well with a bowl of rice.

Speaking of rice, we ordered some Shrimp Fried Rice with Egg ($10.75). This fluffy rice dish is a bit basic but it does its job.

We actually enjoyed the food so much that we made a point to come back before we returned to Vancouver. Since they’re always busy, we put in an order to-go and grabbed some Fried Fish Cakes ($7.75), Five Spiced Beef Wrap ($7.50), as well as a few other dished and drinks.

The food at Facing East is tasty but if you’re looking at visiting, make sure you’re prepared to wait.

1075 Bellevue Way NE Suite B2
Bellevue, WA

www.facingeasttaiwanese.com